Update on my Chloe

I posted a while ago about first Chloe's ACL, then on the large lump we found. Things have been quite busy and haven't been on board.

Yesterday, Saturday was Chloe's 8th birthday. We spoiled her diet and got her "frosty Paws" She loves that. And got her a bone from the butcher.

it was disappointing though, with watching her weight so much, cutting back her food, cutting out the treats...she only lost two pounds as of last Monday. Vet did a biopsy of the lump, two area's of the lump. it was determined that it is fatty tissue.

We try to watch her movements. She takes pain medication and we try to keep her calm, but she wants to play and gets riled up at times. She even jumped up on the bed...she never did that. Not even with two good back legs.

I've been through it 3 times with 2 of my dogs. The first was Katie. The doctor determined that she was too old for surgery when it happened so I carried her outside to potty for 6 weeks, kept her as quiet as possible otherwise. She was a lab/shepherd mix so this was no small feat. Slowly but surely she healed.

My sweet Chelsea blew her ACL at age 11. Even though she was old, I put her through surgery. It was very painful for her and an arduous recovery...but she recovered. Last summer at age 13 she blew the other acl on her other hind knee. I thought for sure that the doctor would tell me to put her down but he didn't (maybe because I was sobbing so hard?). She's another one who recovered on her own.

On April 15 Chelsea will turn 14. She hobbles some days and goes from a standing to laying down position veeerrrrrryyyy sloooooooowly...but she also plays for a few minutes every morning and again every night and has a big grin on her face most days. Both Katie and Chelsea dropped a lot of weight as they got older and the vets said that was partly why they managed to hang in there.

Your Chloe is still young by comparison to how old mine were when they had this happen. Since surgery is not an option, my advice is to keep her on her diet, try to keep her quiet, and hope for the best. Every day she hasn't gotten worse is a day further into recovery.

My Molly girl came in limping sat evening and my heart caught. She's 8 yrs old and overweight. She let me look at her paw and I saw no obvious injury. I made her stay quiet the rest of the evening and by morning the limp was gone. A huge relief as I was afraid she'd torn something. She chases her plastic ball around the yard for hours.
I'm trying to cut down her yard playtime. Not easy with school cuz I hate to see her shut up in the house. Outside she won't leave her ball alone and herds it faithfully. Silly girl. I've tried taking it away......and then I get a scathing look while she spends hours searching for it. I can't win.

I don't know about chloe, but Molly's weight issues started once she was fixed. Unfortunately she was a bit on the chubby side before surgery and it just stuck. I could starve her and she won't loose weight. Excercise seems to be the only way she can get it off and keep it off. Which is why she has her ball. Winter the weight picks up a bit again, but in warm months it's gone.

I know you can't exercise chloe right now, poor girl. But once she's good and healed maybe giving her reg exercise will help with the weight and make her muscles more strong to prevent further injury.

Since we had our dogs, they go out to the park, dog park or just a walk every single night. Regardless of the weather. LOL, I even bought Chloe a yellow raincoat including the hat. LOL - she hates it.

I do think that is how Chloe originally hurt her leg. She was limping a week or more before it actually tore. There was still snow on the ground and we take her to the park. i believe she was running and slipped on the snow.

Chloe does have a Thyroid problem which causes her weight gain. She is on medication for that. Not getting her out for excersize is out of the ordinary. It is hard to get Kenzie out now because Chloe is waiting at the door. And then she gives you those eyes. Even if I leave, I look back at the house and chloe is in the window watching me and Kenzie walk away. It kills me.

So even though we walked her every single day. Miles, not just a few blocks, she still is overweight. She was always a "stocky" dog. Her chest is very wide, broad.
We are working on it. 3/4 cup of diet prescription R&D dog food in the morning and in the eventing. She gets about a tablespoon of peanut butter with her pills mixed in. She just won't take them and has an amazing ability to hold them in her mouth until you no longer suspect it. With the peanut butter she cannot spit it out cause it is like glue. HAH - I win.

I have noticed Chloe is putting a tiny little bit of weight on her bad leg for just a few minutes.

Currently she is taking that joint medication, her thyroid medication, remadyl and two pain pills twice a day for all pills.

I have no trouble giving any of my dogs pills......but always reward with cheese after. Which may be why I don't have a problem. lol I tried hiding their pills (especially foul tasting ones) on occasion, never worked. So I pop em on the back of the tongue, hold their mouth closed and stroke their throat until they swallow. Then reward with cheese so I don't have to chase them all over the house next time I need to give them a pill.

My girls will do anything for cheese. They don't even like peanut butter.

If chloe is trying to put a bit of weight on it now, it's starting to feel better. Now I'd imagine it's going to be even harder to keep her down since it's not hurting as much.

Hi kjs! Chloe putting weight back on that leg sounds like a good sign to me - I'm glad she's been playful. It is so hard to keep a happy dog down. I use peanut butter for Sophie's medications too. When the other dogs hear me taking the cap off the peanut butter jar, they all come running, as if getting medications is good stuff! lol